By Abdulwasiu Hassan
"Hunger is not an issue of charity. It is an issue of justice."
The words of the late Senegalese diplomat Jacques Diouf, who was the director general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation for 18 years, ring true as Nigeria mourns over 60 deaths in a series of stampedes this month linked to a scramble for food and other items distributed at charity events.
Accentuating the pain of loss is the fact that these haunting tragedies at multiple locations — in Ibadan, Anambra and Abuja — have played out against the backdrop of the West African country's escalating cost-of-living crisis.
The authorities blame improper planning for the stampedes and arrested some of those who organised the ill-fated events in Ibadan and Abuja.
The events, where the recent stampedes happened, were organised by non-governmental organisations.
Systemic challenges
Experts say that the government's primary challenge is to fix the underlying problems in the economy and ease the growing desperation of large sections of the population facing food insecurity.
"It is very sad that people are not well organised. We have to be more disciplined," President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said of the stampedes.
"Condolences to those who lost members of their families, although I must say that it is good to give to society."
The President pointed out to the media that he had been giving out palliatives to people in need at his personal residence for the past 25 years without any mismanagement that could trigger a stampede.
Deputy governor Adebayo Lawal of Oyo state, of which Ibadan is the capital, echoed Tinubu on the importance of crowd management at charity events.
"Security agencies say they weren't contacted," he said of the Ibadan stampede in which 35 children died.
A radio broadcast for the festive fair organised as part of a charity initiative had announced food and gift items for 5,000 children. A crowd of over 8,000 turned up, triggering chaos.
Lawal wondered how anyone could organise an event involving a gathering running into thousands without accounting for security.
Policies face scrutiny
Dr Usman Bello of the economics department at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, is among those who see the recurrent stampedes as part of a larger problem.
The unprecedented cost-of-living crisis is already reflected in official data from the National Bureau of Statistics, which pegged headline inflation in November at 34.60% after a third consecutive spike in month-on-month figures.
"What happened at several places indicate the hard times we are living in. When hunger is unresolved, there will be trouble," he tells TRT Afrika.
"The size of the crowds at events where food and other palliatives are being distributed are symptoms of the level of hardship."
Dr Bello believes President Tinubu's reform route triggered the economic challenges the country has experienced since. "One of these is currency devaluation. Floating the naira was a move fraught with risk," he says.
One of the first decisions taken by President Tinubu on assuming office in May 2023 was to scrap the fuel subsidy and float the local currency as part of a broader reform cycle meant to bolster the economy
Experts cite various data to show that these policies have taken a toll on Nigerians' purchasing power.
"A paper published by the central bank in 2019 showed that the primary factor driving inflation is the exchange rate of the naira," says Dr Bello.
"Whenever our currency depreciates to the US dollar by as much as 75 naira, it translates into high domestic inflation."
President Tinubu denies that his government's policies have caused inflation to soar, resulting in stampedes breaking out among people scurrying for palliatives.
"Every society, even in America, has food banks. They have hungry people, too. Britain has food banks and warehouses," he said at a recent media interaction.
Corrective measures
Given the situation in the country, Dr Bello recommends a two-pronged approach, including putting systems in place to prevent stampedes at events where palliatives are distributed among people struggling to get by.
The longer-term strategy envisages a rethink of the government's policies so that Nigerians get a respite.
"One such solution would be to reverse some of the harsher policies, such as devaluing the naira," he says.
However, President Tinubu's statements indicate that there will be no turning back on what he says are "liberal policies" designed to unlock the economy and deliver long-term benefits. The removal of fuel subsidy is among these decisions.
"We were spending our future. We were spending our generation's fortune. We were not investing. We were deceiving ourselves. Those reforms were necessary," he told the media.
On whether the government planned to do anything about the activities of middlemen who buy and hoard farm produce to raise prices, the President said: "I don't believe in price control."
According to him, the best thing to do is to ensure supply to the market and continue supporting farmers with inputs like the 2,000 tractors the country is importing to promote mechanised farming.
"It's a question of supply and demand. It will come to a stage where you can hold no more. It will come to that stage. The economic variables will work against you," the President said of middlemen buying up produce from farmers.
"Take, for example, retail fuel prices. We left it to the free market. Now, prices are coming down gradually."
Nigerians would be hoping another tragedy doesn't strike before food prices finally drop and stabilise, as projected by the government.
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